If you own a business or work in an office, you know that lots of sensitive personal information is stored both in computer files and on paper. If you have hard copies of personal documents that you need to get rid of, paper shredding is vital to keep your own or your business’s information from getting into the wrong hands. If you aren’t sure if you need paper shredding services, here are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Protect your business from identity theft
Businesses have to store financial and other private information somewhere, and it can be hard to decide whether you should store it online or on hard copies in your office. If you have personal documents containing sensitive data on your business, hard copies should be shredded when they are no longer needed. Secure shredding services can help make this happen. Information theft is costly: the FBI estimates the annual cost to be around $24 million. The best way to keep your business safe is to have on site shredding services at your office.

2. Protect your clients’ confidentiality
Working with clients means having access to, and being responsible for, their personal information. Some professional ethics codes require that offices have onsite document shredding if they deal with clients. State and federal laws mandate that professional medical organizations have a fully developed data-destruction plan to prevent theft of sensitive patient information. Whether you are in the medical field or another field that must protect client or patient confidentiality, you should consider document shredding services. If even one client’s information is compromised, the integrity of your business will suffer, so it’s best to protect your business now.

3. Help do your part to protect the environment
The Environmental Protection Agency reports that 80 percent of paper mills in the United States are specially constructed to make new paper out of shredded and recycled paper. With more than 80 million tons of paper consumed in the United States each year, this has a significant impact. Shredding and recycling your paper increases the likelihood that it will be reused to make something else. Most people want to help the environment but don’t know how. If you want to do your part to protect the environment, secure shredding services can help you accomplish this.

Although it may seem like most information is stored online, around 95% of sensitive business information is stored on paper. Secure shredding services can help protect you and/or your business if you have any sensitive documents that need to be destroyed. More information like this.